12 Reasons packaging design fails

Brand managers are all looking for their product packaging to contribute towards profits. Unfortunately many of these packaging designs fail on-shelf and fail to achieve the unit sales projected. A poorly constructed brief is one of the 12 major contributing reasons packaging designs fail to deliver on-shelf profits.

12 Reasons Packaging Design Fails.

Reason # 1) Poor Brief.

Here is a baker’s dozen of key elements required to ensure an effective brief.

Project description – What is the purpose of the new design brief? Is the project brief describing a new product pack design or a revision to an existing design? An unclear or un-detailed project description for the required design can set up a packaging design failure and cost blowouts right from the start.

The product – You should provide a comprehensive description of the product, including pricing and USP relative to your competitors.

Brand positioning statement -Describe the essence of your brand. Keep it as close to one sentence as you can.

Brand personality – Does your brand have a personality or an image it needs to portray to it’s targeted consumer? These are key points that help with brand essence and positioning.

Unique selling proposition -Does the product have it’s own specific USP? What is the brands real or perceived benefit differentiating it from the competing brands and products? giving the buyer a logical reason to prefer it over other brands/products.

When it comes to “the brief” you need to invest as much time as possible to ensure that everyone is on the same page with as much detail as possible. A shoddy communicated brief delivers a poor on-shelf outcome.

Packaging design often fails to deliver the unit sales projected because of a poorly constructed brief. In the next blog post we will review the second reason why packaging designs don’t deliver on-shelf profits, poor strategy.